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Fav Superhero Comics of Past Decade?

Mr Light

Mr Light

Admiral
Admiral
What are your favorite superhero comics from the past decade? I'm talkin' multi-colored spandex, here. No Preachers or Y the Last Man or Buffy Season Eight (loved all three though!). I stopped getting comics about ten years ago so I'm getting back into it with the trades and whatnot for the past year.

--Geoff John's Green Lantern (and Green Lantern Corps: the Sinestro Corps War is what got me back into comics. Johns definitely my favorite all around writer, a combination of old and new, with huge sweeping epics. While I didn't know anything about Hal Jordan, he's made him into one of my favs. This all goes for GLC as well, which has one of the BEST artists out there, Patrick Gleason. And Guy Gardner is hilarious.

--New and Mighty Avengers: While I don't like Bendis' "realistic" dialogue, he certainly manages to tell huge epic stories that make the Avengers feel bigger and better than ever. And Secret Invasion was much much fun.

--Invincible: I've read the first three biggie trades so far. It's completely unoriginal but a really fun reimagining of classic DC and Marvel with big colorful art and fun characters.

--Infinite Crisis: Geoff Johns strikes again. This truly felt like the ultimate big event that completely changed the face of the DCU. I loved how the 4 pronged effort affected every corner; magic, space, government/military, and super villains. I've actually snapped up most of the tie-in books at sales and I've even enjoyed reading them.

--Civil War: Mark Millar is one of my favorite writers, and Steve McNiven is probably my number one artist. Again it's a huge ultimate event that completely changes the face of the MU turning the heroes on each other. I didn't enjoy the tie-ins as much though.

I haven't read Brubaker's Cap America or Johns' JSA run yet but I hear they're great.
 
For me, Dynamo 5. Simply ole' school superhero fun with a twist--the five-member, multi-ethnic team are all the illegimite children of a famous superhero (Captain Dynamo) who was privately a real scum-suckin' unfaithful bastard.

Witchblade. Don't let the T&A covers fool you (they're just a gimmick anyway). This book kicks serious ass with strong female characters, otherworldly monsters, and people frequently dying very gruesome deaths.

Gold Digger. Long-running manga-inspired series about three busty sisters--one Human, one Were-Cheetah, and one somewhere in between. Part Fantastic Four, part Indiana Jones, part Lord of the Rings, part Doctor Who, part Monty Python, all fun.
 
Civil War is the WORST thing to ever happen to Marvel Comics. Joey Q wasn't content to have ONE universe of jackbooted thug "heroes"; he just HAD to go ruin the real MU too.

Two of my pics just barely make the cutoff or are a year over, but whatever: Avengers post Heroes Return (Busiek/Perez) and Thunderbolts V1.

My other choice would be Spider-Girl, the ONLY book never to succomb to the infestation of CRAP that is Joe Q's Marvel overall.
 
Avengers Forever
Batman: Hush
Incredible Hulk #82 - Dear Patricia
New Avengers #22 - New Avengers Disassembled, Part 2
New X-Men #132 - Ambient Magnetic Fields
New X-Men Vol. 2 #42-43 - Children of X-Men
X-23: Innocence Lost
X-23: Target X
The Ultimates
The Ultimates 2
Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-23 - Crossover

Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Impulse could all be counted on for quality, if not greatness, and several above series from which single issue numbers are given could be counted on, too (in Ultimate Fantastic Four's case, until Issue #33). The early issues of Spider-Girl were outstanding, but I've not read them in almost a decade (late issues have been pretty awful, though it's still one of the better series regularly published).
 
I'm actually reading the Busiek/Perez Avengers run right now on my new DVD-ROM. It's not quite as amazing as I remembered but it's good. The Ultron story is next which I remember as being the best bit. ... Batman Hush was a good run. I didn't care for the Ultimates. Planet Hulk / World War Hulk was pretty good, though I felt the WWH stuff was a little bit superfluous/meaningless. 'Course you could say that about most things.
 
New titles. The Boys (Garth Ennis) KICK-ASS (Mark Miller). Older titles. MIRACLEMAN (Alan Moore #1-#16/ Neil Gaiman #17-#24) Saga of the Swamp Thing (Alan Moore #20-#64) and of course WATCHMEN.
 
Oh yeah, I've been meaning to get The Boys. I loved Preacher and Hitman and I hear it's thinly veiled superhero parodies?
 
Mr Light said:
Oh yeah, I've been meaning to get The Boys. I loved Preacher and Hitman and I hear it's thinly veiled superhero parodies?
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It is!:D in one story arc they mock the X-MEN & in the very first arc they really make fun on this batman type millionare playboy type! I have to say thou my second favorite arc from that series has been the ''5 year plan'' when the boys were in russia! and they came across an old retired superhero who's name was ''LOVE SAUSEGE'':eek: trust me it's briliant!:guffaw:
 
I found Busiek's Avengers rather middling. A lot of great story ideas, but I found my enjoyment of it smothered by unnecessary narration and (in a frequent problem in Busiek's works) every character talking like they've got a stick rammed up their ass (also, the interminable Triune Understanding stuff). One of the best issues was the silent one midway through "The Kang Dynasty".

My choices:

- Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman (2003-2006); one of the three writers in the inter-Crisis period (1987-2006) who really got Diana. Rucka jousts with Perez for the title of best Wondy writer, and, had he been allowed to finish his run instead of being jettisoned for the Heinberg garbage, I suspect he would hold that title unquestionably. As it stands, "Stoned" through "The Bronze Doors" is an incredible run of stories. Diana v. Medousa is one of comics' best fight scenes.

- Allan Heinberg's Young Avengers (2005-2006); speaking of Heinberg, this is the gem that made his WW such a monumental disappointment. Thirteen sparkling issues, including "Sidekicks", one of the greatest origin arcs in comics history. Introduces a raft of new/revamped characters, and made me heavily invested in most of them (I never took much to Teddy; Speed wasn't around long enough to really get to know him).

- Ed Brubaker's Captain America (2005-present); the definitive Captain America run, and still ongoing. "Out of Time" was practically the first non-X-Men trade I picked up way back when, and I still remember how blown away I was by it. In the space of the first seven issues, you get pretty much everything you need to know about Steve as a character. Of course, things ran considerably beyond seven issues, including the "Death of Captain America" epic. What I really love about this run is that almost every story point sounds like an awful, stunt-oriented idea, but he makes it all work (the same might be said about YA).

- Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente's Incredible Hercules (2007-present); when this was announced in the aftermath of World War Hulk, I was intrigued, since I love Greek myth, but, like most fans, I didn't imagine it would last very long. However, it's heading past the 20-issue mark, with no end in sight. The moment I realized this series was something really special was midway through #115 (the third issue), when Ares whacked Wonder Man over the head from behind. Pak and Van Lente mix epic drama and genuinely hilarious comedy better than anyone else in the business. Amadeus Cho, a character I found incredibly irritating beforehand, has become very enjoyable. And then there's Athena, who's just awesome.
 
I haven't read it in ten years but I remember really liking the Mark Waid / Ron Garney Captain America run that ran before/after Heroes Reborn.
 
CaptainCanada said:
-Allan Heinberg's Young Avengers (2005-2006); speaking of Heinberg, this is the gem that made his WW such a monumental disappointment. Thirteen sparkling issues, including "Sidekicks", one of the greatest origin arcs in comics history. Introduces a raft of new/revamped characters, and made me heavily invested in most of them (I never took much to Teddy; Speed wasn't around long enough to really get to know him).
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I don't know how I forgot the Young Avengers. All thirteen issues of Heinberg's tenure were excellent.
 
I liked Infinite Crisis, but when starting to read it, I had no fricken clue as to what was going on. There was too many lead-ins that caused big confusion for me. I am very tempted to go back and pick up those lead ins as they are all mostly traded by now.

Mr Light said:
I haven't read it in ten years but I remember really liking the Mark Waid / Ron Garney Captain America run that ran before/after Heroes Reborn.
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+1 I have their entire run stored somewhere safely. I feel that their stuff was definitive for Capt. America (I haven't really read Ed Burbanker's stuff, though I hear it's really good).
 
That's the other great thing about IC it was so jam packed full of content and characters, while at the same never being 'WTF is going on is this an alternate reality?' feel that FC had. Of course the only IMPORTANT tie-in was OMAC Project. The rest were very separated from the main story (while the Society was central to IC, Villains United only indirectly dealt with it).
 
Kurt Buseik's Astro City is a wonderful series if it ever gets back on its feet.

X
 
Runaways- The original 19 issue series was just plain fantastic. I read it at a point in my life where I was looking back to the mid eighties, where comic books hadn't become fully adult oriented but had been becoming more mature... I really don't like the adult oriented trends, but I don't want to go back to a day where everything was so toned down.

So here we had a comic aimed to the teenage audience that didn't pull any punches, had great characters (I love Gertrude Yorkes), and was intelligent enough for the older generation, but wasn't too adult for the target audience.



Green Arrow- Kevin Smith's run on Green Arrow was a mixed bag. Very wordy, came up with too many fan servicey references, but here's the deal: He's a great writer regardless. Bring back Oliver Queen was the best thing DC has done in years. Not only that, he brough back that good old fashioned working class hero attitude... Until Judd Winnick made him an annoying Limo Leftist....

It's a great story if you forgive it's faults.




Young Avengers- Is anyone tired of that gritty, angsty hero? You know, "That Guy?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yEgwqlyX20

This comic gave me REAL heroes for a change... ANd just in time. After all, we live in a day where Captain America carries a gun and the Green Lanterns kill. This was a more classic hero story, with a hilarious sense of self satire.


Action Comics- Richard Donner's Run. Actually, no, this comic was simply mediocre. Until, of course, Superman and confronts Lex Luthor, and asks him for help defeating General Zodd... A confrontation that is followed by the coolest single panel since the Death of Superman.
 
Runaways- The original 19 issue series was just plain fantastic. I read it at a point in my life where I was looking back to the mid eighties, where comic books hadn't become fully adult oriented but had been becoming more mature... I really don't like the adult oriented trends, but I don't want to go back to a day where everything was so toned down.

So here we had a comic aimed to the teenage audience that didn't pull any punches, had great characters (I love Gertrude Yorkes), and was intelligent enough for the older generation, but wasn't too adult for the target audience.
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I was planning to mention Runaways on this thread earlier, only I wasn't too sure they counted as superheroes! But I agree with everything you say here - it's probably my favourite comic of the decade, and the first "season" still stands as the best thing Brian K Vaughan has written.
 
Superman Last Son (the Richard Donner Geoff Johns story) is coming out in paperback on June 16th, I'm looking forward to it. Hey that reminds me, I've read Superman Brainiac and New Krypton Part One and there isn't a single mention of Chris Kent. What happened to him? (Good riddance, I hate the idea)
 
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